Questions To Ask When Your Home Inspection Is Complete

What are some questions to ask a home inspector after he’s finished the inspection? Because, let’s face it, just staring at that hefty report highlighting every flaw in your future dream home can send many buyers into a full-blown panic!

Know the right questions to ask a home inspector afterward, though, and this can help put that report into perspective. Here are the big ones to hit.

‘I don’t understand [such and such], what does it mean?’

Just so you know what to expect, here’s how it will go down: A day or two after the inspection, you should receive the inspector’s report. It will be a detailed list of every flaw in the house, often along with pictures of some of the problem areas and more elaboration.

Hopefully you also attended the actual inspection and could ask questions then; if so, the report should contain no surprises. It should contain what you talked about at the inspection, with pictures and perhaps a bit more detail. If there’s anything major you don’t remember from the inspection in the report, don’t be afraid to ask about it.

‘Is this a major or a minor problem?’

Keep in mind, most problems in the house will likely be minor and not outright deal breakers. Still, you’ll want your home inspector to help you separate the wheat from the chaff and point out any doozies. So ask him if there are any problems serious enough to keep you from moving forward with the house.

Keep in mind that ultimately it’s up to you and your real estate agent to determine how to address any issues.

“The inspector can’t tell you, ‘Make sure the seller pays for this,’ so be sure you understand what needs to be done,” says Frank Lesh, executive director of the American Society of Home Inspectors.

‘Should I call in another expert for a follow-up inspection?’

Expect to have to call in other experts at this point to look over major issues and assign a dollar figure to fixing them. If your inspector flags your electrical box as looking iffy, for example, you may need to have an electrician come take a look and tell you what exactly is wrong and what the cost would be to fix it. The same goes for any apparent problems with the heating or air conditioning, roof, or foundation. An HVAC repair person, roofer, or engineer will need to examine your house and provide a bid to repair the problem.

Why is this so important? This bid is what your real estate agent will take to the seller if you decide to ask for a concession instead of having the seller do the fix for you. Your inspector can’t give you these figures, but he can probably give you a sense of whether it’s necessary to call somebody in.

‘Is there anything I’ll need to do once I move in?’

Wait, you’re still not done! It’s easy to forget the inspector’s report in the whirlwind of closing and moving, but there are almost always suggestions for things that need doing in the first two to three months of occupancy.

Lesh says he sometimes gets panicked calls from homeowners whose houses he inspected three months after they’ve moved in. Although he’d noted certain issues in his report, the buyers neglected the report entirely—and paid for it later.

“I had a couple call and tell me they had seepage in the basement,” Lesh says. “I pulled up their report and asked if they’d reconnected the downspout extension like I recommended. Nope. Well, there’s your problem!”